How to know you're a physicist

There are many clues you have to which career path you want to go on. Engineers they say like to take things apart. What do Physicists do? WHat are they like? How are they in their social lives? WHat likenesses do they have? WHat odd things or habits do they like to repeat?

Besides saying physicists are more od,crazy,wild thinkers than smart tell me more details about them. SOmething more in depth. DO we even know about them? Only ones we've really known of is MIchi Kaku, ALbert EInstein, Steven Hawking, and even Dr.Paul Chiu.

Well, i'm not a physicist, but whenever I ask people who are why they are physicist, I tend to get one general reply. They seem to have a certain need/desire to understand how the world works. As to habits they have and quarks, I think you may have some weird fantasy in your head.

Physicist’s have an innate curiosity about the world around them and a passion to explore, discover and understand the architecture and mechanisms, that engineer the physical, tangible reality, that we experience phenomenally. We want to describe how the universe operates with precise, deterministic laws using the visual language of mathematics.

I personally, decided that I would not be happy doing anything other than theoretical physics and mathematics, about a year and a half ago while I was dissociated and trapped in an intense k-hole. Ever since then, I have devoted all of my time to studying and practicing my maths and phyiscs, so that I can hopefully do theoretical physics. I did not do any math in highschool, other than Algebra and nearly failed high school. It was about a year after high school, that I made the choice to go to college and do nothing but physics and math (although, I live with my gf so she sort of gets more attention than the my work, but very soon she is going to have to accept that studying will require more time than now). I had to relearn algebra up through calculus II on my own because I was very far behind. If you want to do phyiscs, all it takes is motivation.

Anyways man, I don't think there is anything specific -- I had no idea I was doing physics until I was 19. I had always been interested in physics as a young kid (6-13) until I started doing math. Since I never grasped how well our projections of geometry and mathematics, describes reality -- I absolutely despised math. After constructing a model in my head, connecting all the aspects of physics, mathematics and geometry, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. All it takes is one experience to completely transform your perception of the universe.

Also, we know a lot of information, about a lot of physicists, especially if you follow their work at all. I actually know less about the guys you mentioned, than some of the other theorists working on modern problems that I follow.

Physicist’s have an innate curiosity about the world around them and a passion to explore, discover and understand the architecture and mechanisms, that engineer the physical, tangible reality, that we experience phenomenally. We want to describe how the universe operates with precise, deterministic laws using the visual language of mathematics.

I personally, decided that I would not be happy doing anything other than theoretical physics and mathematics, about a year and a half ago while I was dissociated and trapped in an intense k-hole. Ever since then, I have devoted all of my time to studying and practicing my maths and phyiscs, so that I can hopefully do theoretical physics. I did not do any math in highschool, other than Algebra and nearly failed high school. It was about a year after high school, that I made the choice to go to college and do nothing but physics and math (although, I live with my gf so she sort of gets more attention than the my work, but very soon she is going to have to accept that studying will require more time than now). I had to relearn algebra up through calculus II on my own because I was very far behind. If you want to do phyiscs, all it takes is motivation.

Anyways man, I don't think there is anything specific -- I had no idea I was doing physics until I was 19. I had always been interested in physics as a young kid (6-13) until I started doing math. Since I never grasped how well our projections of geometry and mathematics, describes reality -- I absolutely despised math. After constructing a model in my head, connecting all the aspects of physics, mathematics and geometry, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. All it takes is one experience to completely transform your perception of the universe.

Also, we know a lot of information, about a lot of physicists, especially if you follow their work at all. I actually know less about the guys you mentioned, than some of the other theorists working on modern problems that I follow.

I knew I was a physicist after I was trying to solve a problem w/ the physics professor I work for. We were working through something on the board when we needed to know the approximate value of a term. He says "Lets just do a quick approximation, we are physicists, we can do that."

I was thinking "Wow, he didn't say 'I am a physicist', he said 'we are physicists', so I guess I can call myself a physicist!" It really made my day (yeah I am hardcore nerd).

Now when someone asks me what I do, I don't say "physics student" or "physics major." I say (w/ great pride) "I am a physicist."

Mathematics is the language of physics. They go hand in had with each other. Physics without math is like bread without peanut butter and jelly. So if you're gonna get into physics, then you should develop a liking for the math.

You know you're a physicist when you write entire books on a single mathematical formula :)

:rofl:
I must say, that I completely agree with that.

I find many of the physics books so wordy and obscure. For me it is paradoxically much easier to read a math book than a physics book, because in the latter I am sometimes totaly lost in what is an assumption, approximation, experimental fact or a theorem resulting from the preceeding.

Math is maybe in the beginning a bit hard to read, but once you learn the language (with all the [tex]\epsilon[/tex] and [tex]\delta[/tex] stuff) you see how many advantages it has - it is clear, brief and very powerful in describing various phenomena.

I like books like Goldstein, which involve enough math, and you can also get the physical feeling from it.

Anyway, do you think, that this more mathematical approach is helpful in (theoretical) physics or is it not very welcomed?

You know you're a physicist when someone offers you a job doing physics.

- Warren

Spot on. Even if one can debate the entire 'curiosity for understanding the Universe' area, one needs some perspective on reality. Compare with other professions: is a person a lawyer if he never have had a job as one even if one have a dream and an urge to protect the innocents or something similar? Hardly.

Spot on. Even if one can debate the entire 'curiosity for understanding the Universe' area, one needs some perspective on reality. Compare with other professions: is a person a lawyer if he never have had a job as one even if one have a dream and an urge to protect the innocents or something similar? Hardly.

Lawyers can do pro-bono work just as physicists can work indepenently on research without recieving monetary compensation. In my opinion, as long as someone is working through higher level physics and understands it, then they are physicists.

I digress, however and will concede your point for the purpose of practicality.